Hidden Costs in Higher Education: A Literature Scientific Analysis

Abstract

Hidden costs are a relevant issue in the financial planning of institutions. In the context of higher education, this relevance serves to ensure stability, efficiency, and excellence in the development of institutional activities. The study’s objective was to analyze the patterns of publication, collaboration, and evolution of research on hidden costs in higher education. A bibliometric methodology was used, with the search for documents in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. This search resulted in a total of 152 documents published from 2015-2023. The evolution of the production, the most cited authors, the countries with the highest production, the co-occurrence of keywords, and an author network analysis were identified. The results show that the distribution of documents is 44.73% for Scopus and 55.27% for WoS. The scientific production increased from 5 publications in 2015 to 23 in 2023. The United Kingdom is the country with the largest amount of research and Europe stands out as the continent with the largest contribution in this area. The authors with the most publications are Armstrong, N., Kleijnen, J., and Worthy, G. The constant increase in scientific production linked to hidden costs in higher education is evident. Such growth translates into a significant increase in publications and citations, thus reflecting the relevance and interest in the subject.